Context conflict resolution and automatic context source maintenance

• US 20040054726A1
• Filed: 09/17/2002
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sundstrom, Robert J., Kovales, Renee M., Doss, J. Smith, Pozefsky, Diane P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,487,234 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for detecting and resolving conflicts in context information from various sources. That information may be used to automatically update one or more context sources and/or to validate or invalidate (until further notice or for a period of time) input from one or more context sources. Or, the updates can be made in response to the user'"'"'s instructions. Rules are used in preferred embodiments to dictate the conflict resolution approach for individual users. Updating the context source is particularly useful when the source is an electronic calendar. Updates that may be made to the calendar include adding, deleting, or changing scheduled events and/or working hours. Invalidating data from a context source is particularly useful for lost, forgotten, misplaced, or loaned devices. Marking data from a context source as valid is preferably done when harmony among several context sources is detected. Context suppliers may be notified of errors or discrepancies in their context data.

Claims

1. A method of resolving conflicts in context information, comprising steps of:

gathering context information from a plurality of context sources;

determining whether a conflict exists in the gathered context information; and

if a conflict is determined to exist, resolving the determined conflict by applying a set of rules and performing action(s) specified by one or more matching ones of the rules.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein operation of the gathering step is triggered by the step of detecting a context change.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of ignoring, by the gathering step, any context information marked as invalid.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of ignoring, by the determining step, any context information marked as invalid.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the performing step further comprises the step of updating a context source.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the updated context source is a user'"'"'s electronic calendar.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the update comprises one or more of adding, deleting, or changing events on the user'"'"'s electronic calendar.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the update comprises one or more of adding, deleting, or changing working hours on the user'"'"'s electronic calendar.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the performing step further comprises the step of invalidating a context source.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the invalidating is effective until an ending time.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the invalidating is effective for a duration of time.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein the invalidating is effective until further notice.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of validating a previously-invalidated context source upon detecting harmony among the context sources.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the performing step further comprises the step of notifying a context supplier of the determined conflict.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining step further comprises the step of determining whether one or more conflicts exist in the gathered context information, and wherein the resolving step further comprises the step of resolving the determined conflicts by applying the set of rules and performing action(s) specified by one or more matching ones of the rules.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining step further comprises the step of using location data gathered from two or more of the context sources to determine whether the conflict exists.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resolving step further comprises including user interaction to determine the actions to be performed.

18. A method of detecting harmony in context information, comprising steps of:

gathering context information from a plurality of context sources;

determining, using the gathered context information, whether harmony exists among multiple ones of the context sources; and

if harmony is determined to exist, ensuring that the multiple ones of the context sources are marked as providing valid context information.

19. A method of detecting harmony in context information, comprising steps of:

gathering context information from a plurality of context sources;

determining, using the gathered context information, whether harmony exists among multiple ones of the context sources; and

if harmony is determined to exist and any of the context sources are marked as providing invalid context information, applying a set of rules to determine whether one or more of the context sources marked as providing invalid context information should be changed to mark them as providing valid context information.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein operation of the gathering step is triggered by the step of detecting a context change.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein the context sources are marked as valid until an ending time.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein the context sources are marked as valid for a duration of time.

23. The method according to claim 19, wherein the determining step further comprises the step of using location data gathered from two or more of the context sources to determine whether the harmony exists.

24. The method according to claim 19, further comprising the step of using user interaction to determine whether the one or more context sources should be changed to mark them as providing valid context information.

25. A system for resolving conflicts in context information, comprising:

means for gathering context information from a plurality of context sources;

means for determining whether a conflict exists in the gathered context information; and

if a conflict is determined to exist, means for resolving the determined conflict by applying a set of rules and performing action(s) specified by one or more matching ones of the rules.

26. The system according to claim 25, wherein operation of the means for gathering is triggered by detecting a context change.

27. A system for detecting harmony in context information, comprising:

means for gathering context information from a plurality of context sources;

means for determining, using the gathered context information, whether harmony exists among multiple ones of the context sources; and

if harmony is determined to exist, means for ensuring that the multiple ones of the context sources are marked as providing valid context information.

28. A computer program product for resolving conflicts in context information, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable media and comprising:

computer-readable program code means for gathering context information from a plurality of context sources;

computer-readable program code means for determining whether a conflict exists in the gathered context information; and

if a conflict is determined to exist, computer-readable program code means for resolving the determined conflict by applying a set of rules and performing action(s) specified by one or more matching ones of the rules.

29. The computer program product according to claim 28, wherein operation of the means for gathering is triggered by detecting a context change.

30. A computer program product for detecting harmony in context information, comprising:

computer-readable program code means for gathering context information from a plurality of context sources;

computer-readable program code means for determining, using the gathered context information, whether harmony exists among multiple ones of the context sources; and

if harmony is determined to exist, computer-readable program code means for ensuring that the multiple ones of the context sources are marked as providing valid context information.